St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-04-23

"IwiM Be . little helper"
Sings the bird.
And IL carols forth . song.
Though the cherries day be long,
Bringing TO some helpless one
Some sweet word
You can be little helper,
Child 20 fair!
| And your kindly deeds can make,
! For the Heavenly Fathers sake,
| Sunshine, love, and happiness
Everywhere!
Geo. Cooper. Z. SIS zs~As.
THE LEAK IN THE CHURCH OIL
| A frae Story which Explains WY II Hap
| Pened and Teaches . Coed Moral
Johnnie Carr was . bright, pleasan
boy and . general favorite in the tow
where he lived. His parents loved hin
very much, but, like other boys. he hai
his faults. One was reluctant obedi
ence. He always intended to obey hi
father and mother. but wanted to do i
in his own time and his own way. Ont
Saturday afternoon he was sent to tn
store for oil. His mother said:
'Go straight there, Johnnie. and
don't stop anywhere.
Johnnie promised. but on the way hs
met Nicholas Barnes, called for shor'
''Nick." He was . new boy in town
and had several times made . great
deal Of trouble for his folks Johnnie
had promised not to have any thing r.
do with Nick.
But Nick had met Johnnie few days
before, and offered him some candy.
Johnnie took it. saying to himself:
':Nick is not so bad as some people
think"
This time Nick met him q II he had
been an old friend. asking. "Where
you going?"
''Store for OIL" replied Johnnie.
"All that for oil?" replied Nick.
yes
mo change backi Not red. John
nie?"
'Not q red." answered Johnnie.
Nick thought moment, then he be-
gan to talk Of something different
when We going to have some choco-
late creams?"
Johnnie's mouth watered. for he was
very fond Of that kind Of confection-
cry. He sighed as he said: '.Dun-no;
money is scarce down our way"
They were now nearing tho church.
Lets sit down here on the Old
South steps and talk it over" said
Nick. ''Let's see. l treated ON choco-
late last time. now its your turn"
Johnnie had not thought Of that
when he accepted half the contents Of
the candy bag! For the first time it
dawned upon him that Nick would ex-
pect him to return the compliment.
He said: II dunno when it'n be, Nick.
Pas sold ono Of his horses cause he
was short for money; he's going to
make one do all the work. 30 don't
think I'll get much spending money
this summer"
Suddenly . queer look came over
Nick's face. He spoke quickly but in
. low tone.
You just keep still minute. join
ME. I'll tell You something"
He dashed away without giving any
Information. Johnnie kept ''still''
until he was tired Of it; and was about
starting for the store when Nick ap-
peared. very much excited.
Johnnie" he said. I'VE can have
some chocolates to-day"
"How so?"
''It came into my head just now
when 1 see the old sexton going down
into the graveyard" said Nick. "He's
left the church open, the cellar doors
unlocked and there's q whole barrel Of
kerosene in there -
As the plan flashed upon Johnnie's
mind. his face grew very red. Nick
did not seem to notice this and went
ON:
Lets ffll the can. who'll know the
difference7 l guess two quarts Of oil
won't kill nobody"
Johnnie was greatly shocked. but be-
fore he could speak Nick had disap-
peared with the can. When he re-
turned it was full. He passed It to
Johnnie, who shrank back.
II can't take the oil Nick; it don't
belong to me. It's stealing"
Stealing? Oh. no." said Nick.
slowly. '.Now you look here, this oil
belongs to the parish. and your pa is
one Of them. So you zee part Of the
oil ID his'n."
He stopped suddenly with look of
fright, the old sexton was returning.
Evidently Nick thought his argument
would not convince him, for l. said
1T won't do for us to hang around
here any longer; he'll know the whole
thing. Let's hide the can and have
some fun up town."
Az they went Nick seeing that John
ME did not feel right about It said:
'@The South Church folks are rich =
mud. An old ieller died here once, and
left them piles Of money to run things
with. So this oil don't come out o
them. Il won't hurt them to give y .
little once in awhile, - long, they got
, whole barrel II the sexton don't
lock up the CELLAR I'm going to 6n
can"
By this time the boys had arrived at
he store. Soon their pockets were full
II cAocolates- Johnnie did not enjoy
lham n much n uana1 h hA1nn n